Hi,

I just joined this forum as there seem to be a lot of smart gardeners posting here and I desperately need some advice.

I have taken over a very big garden that was once well planted then completely left for several years. I'm currently trying to resurrect any of the plants that I can, and need advice on pruning, as I feel a good pruning this time of year will leave me with a much better chance of helping these guys. However, there are several roses, and two grape vines that I am wary of pruning.

What I need to know is, how hard should I go with the basic old roses, back to just 4 to 5 canes? One of the roses has stunning white flowers, but it is very spindly and prone to disease, do I give up, or can I prune health into it? Another is a climber with two strong canes coming from the ground, and I am not sure how to approach cutting back the spindly/strong canes coming from the main stems. Or maybe I should take it back to the ground? It seems pretty well established.

The old grape vine is really straggly and it's hard to tell what's alive and what's not. I unburied it last year from brambles and strung it up on a trellis made of tree prunings and it fruited, so it's obviously got some go in it. Again, I am really unsure as to how hard to prune the vine, and how to know where to cut. Would I be better off waiting until spring when I can see shoots to guide me?

I'd really appreciate some help with my mammoth project! I have about a million other questions, but these will do for now.

x

"tazmainiandevil" wrote in
message ...

helping these guys. However, there are several roses, and two grape
vines that I am wary of pruning.

What I need to know is, how hard should I go with the basic old roses,
back to just 4 to 5 canes? One of the roses has stunning white flowers,
but it is very spindly and prone to disease, do I give up, or can I
prune health into it? Another is a climber with two strong canes coming
from the ground, and I am not sure how to approach cutting back the
spindly/strong canes coming from the main stems. Or maybe I should take
it back to the ground? It seems pretty well established.

For the rose that isn't a climber, you first need to know if it is say a
hybrid tea of a heritage/old fashioned rose. If it's a hybrid tea you can
effectively chop it hard right back to its shins but if its and old
fashioned about a third off with some judicious canes to the ground in the
first year.

Climbers are pruned after flowering but for the weak spindly stuff you won't
do much harm by chopping them now. In fact whatever you do with the roses
you should have few problems as roses tend to be as tough as old boots.

The old grape vine is really straggly and it's hard to tell what's alive
and what's not. I unburied it last year from brambles and strung it up
on a trellis made of tree prunings and it fruited, so it's obviously got
some go in it. Again, I am really unsure as to how hard to prune the
vine, and how to know where to cut. Would I be better off waiting until
spring when I can see shoots to guide me?

No, prune it now, but read up on it first. If you can have a good look at
it and see how it was trained in the early stages of its life then that will
be a help to you but if you can see no evidence of training then you can
make up your own mind as there are several ways of training. Vines too are
tough.

Where abouts in the world are you? You name makes me think perhaps Oz, but
the use of gardenbanter makes me think of the UK.

In article ,
tazmainiandevil wrote:

Hi,

I just joined this forum as there seem to be a lot of smart gardeners
posting here and I desperately need some advice.

I have taken over a very big garden that was once well planted then
completely left for several years. I'm currently trying to resurrect any
of the plants that I can, and need advice on pruning, as I feel a good
pruning this time of year will leave me with a much better chance of
helping these guys. However, there are several roses, and two grape
vines that I am wary of pruning.

What I need to know is, how hard should I go with the basic old roses,
back to just 4 to 5 canes? One of the roses has stunning white flowers,
but it is very spindly and prone to disease, do I give up, or can I
prune health into it? Another is a climber with two strong canes coming
from the ground, and I am not sure how to approach cutting back the
spindly/strong canes coming from the main stems. Or maybe I should take
it back to the ground? It seems pretty well established.

The old grape vine is really straggly and it's hard to tell what's alive
and what's not. I unburied it last year from brambles and strung it up
on a trellis made of tree prunings and it fruited, so it's obviously got
some go in it. Again, I am really unsure as to how hard to prune the
vine, and how to know where to cut. Would I be better off waiting until
spring when I can see shoots to guide me?

I'd really appreciate some help with my mammoth project! I have about a
million other questions, but these will do for now.

x

Regarding the grapevine, see:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/1000/1428.html

You should prune now while the vine is dormant. The buds are plainly
visible as bumps along the cane. Try to leave 24 buds from last year's
wood to produce fruit. Best if they are on top of the cane instead of
underneath. You may screw up, but it isn't anything that can't be fixed
later.

also see:
http://video.google.com/videosearch?...=pruning+grape
vines&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=IZKIS5S-HJHCsQPo0bmGAw&sa=X&oi=video_resu
lt_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CBwQqwQwAw#client= safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&
um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=IZKIS5S-HJHCsQPo0bmGAw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=tit
le&resnum=4&ved=0CBwQqwQwAw&q=pruning+grape+vines
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merger of state and corporate power." - Benito Mussolini.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100119/...ting_activists
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/1/19/headlines

Thank you for the advice. I have been reading up on both vine and rose training, and there are lots of posts on places like youtube, but the problem is, my plants have suffered several years of neglect, and so look nothing like the ones I read about/see. I am taking on quite a different task in restoring them, and my dream is to bring them all back to their previous glory. I've got to, the rest of the garden is bare!

I live in Gloucestershire in the UK and have a cottage garden of about 1/3 of an acre.

Now I'm a member, I will post some photos.

You should prune now while the vine is dormant. The buds are plainly
visible as bumps along the cane. Try to leave 24 buds from last year's
wood to produce fruit.

Thank you for this. I have had a look and can recognise the bumps. But, how do I tell which wood is from last year?


Also, I am assuming from what you both say that you think I should prune my vine pretty hard. Is this right? It's about 10 foot long in places, and there are bits hanging out all over the place, so I wouldn't mind being ruthless just to get some shape into it. But, like, I said, I found it wrapped up in a bramble bush, so it's not had an easy few years so I don't want to be unnecessarily harsh.

On Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:36:42 -0500, tazmainiandevil
wrote:


Hi,

I just joined this forum as there seem to be a lot of smart gardeners
posting here and I desperately need some advice.

I have taken over a very big garden that was once well planted then
completely left for several years. I'm currently trying to resurrect any
of the plants that I can, and need advice on pruning, as I feel a good
pruning this time of year will leave me with a much better chance of
helping these guys. However, there are several roses, and two grape
vines that I am wary of pruning.

What I need to know is, how hard should I go with the basic old roses,
back to just 4 to 5 canes? One of the roses has stunning white flowers,
but it is very spindly and prone to disease, do I give up, or can I
prune health into it? Another is a climber with two strong canes coming
from the ground, and I am not sure how to approach cutting back the
spindly/strong canes coming from the main stems. Or maybe I should take
it back to the ground? It seems pretty well established.

The old grape vine is really straggly and it's hard to tell what's alive
and what's not. I unburied it last year from brambles and strung it up
on a trellis made of tree prunings and it fruited, so it's obviously got
some go in it. Again, I am really unsure as to how hard to prune the
vine, and how to know where to cut. Would I be better off waiting until
spring when I can see shoots to guide me?

I'd really appreciate some help with my mammoth project! I have about a
million other questions, but these will do for now.

x


Not enough information. But here's the basics for roses. Wait to
prune until you see little red "buds" on the stems (that already
happened here in TN). Remove all the dead canes. Remove any canes
thinner than a pencil. Next, remove canes that are crowded, out of
place, or anaything to improve the balance and air-circulation of the
plant. Early spring is the best time to prune, unbury the crown if
needed and apply a half inch layer rotted cow manure and fish
emulsion. Be careful with climbers, they can leaf out a large canopy
shading the underneath and holding excessive moisture leading to black
spot.